There will be much better players across all AFLW teams in 3-5 years. Girls who were 10-12 when AFLW started will start coming through rather than transplanted 'athletes'.
My initial statement was not meant to be aimed at the Swans Team. It is the competition as a whole. If I was a broadcaster or the AFL I would trial 2 rounds on shorter grounds - I think the results would please everyone.
A few remarks:
The scores are similar to the VFL in its early years. In the 1897 VFL season, the average score was 39.0. In AFL season 7 after 6 rounds, the average score is 31.5. When accounting for the shorter AFLW quarters, the scoring per minute is similar.
The standard of play is clearly lower than the men's competition, but the reasons for this are obvious: (1) Less lifetime playing experience for the players, (2) Smaller pool of talent. This will improve over time when these factors are addressed. Don't expect rapid improvement as these take time to resolve (a decade).
The standard will not improve much if seasons are short, either at the top level or at lower levels. A season length of between 14 games and 18 games would be ideal; for the AFLW every side would play every other side once (17 games).
The AFLW team lists are too small. 30 players is not enough. These need to be expanded to 32 or the AFLW should introduce a floating pool of top-up players. These top-up players train with the AFLW teams but can be selected by any team that has too many injuries. There would not need to be many top-up players, maybe one or two per team.
The AFLW Swans are a fair bit behind the other sides at present. That's a temporary problem caused by a short pre-season and a new side spending limited time together.
"Unbelievable!" -- Nick Davis leaves his mark on the 2005 semi final
I'm not sure you can compare 1897 to 2022. Ground surfaces would have been hellish. Place kicks at goal - probably drop kicks etc. Imagine how heavy the ball would have been when wet. I can remember kicking footies like medicine balls when I was young lol.Originally Posted by Thunder Shaker
They could start by reducing the size of the grounds to encourage a more equivalent rate of scoring. The fields are just too big currently in the AFLW and that detracts from the matches.
Those calling for ground size reduction for AFLW seem to forget that it means all new grounds (not going to happen) or re-marking boundary lines and repositioning goal and point posts on existing grounds. Again, not going to happen....because there will have to be mounting points for the base of each goal and point post. When the men play on the same ground, those base mounting points (all 8 of them) will become a danger to the players. Therefore, it is not practical to reduce ground size for AFLW unless you resort top point one....and who's going to come up with the money to build new grounds?
Why not play AFLW on a converted basketball court. Just put up goal posts and resurface the court with something cushy. It doesn't take long. In the US and Canada they turn around an arena from basketball to ice hockey overnight.
Where would you put the 50 metre arc?
Well having North Sydney Oval for all home games would be a start…..
It’s all very PC but most womens sport is not as good as the male equivalent. And AFLW is infinitely poorer.
Womens AFL is a great participation sport and it’s growth has been unbelievable for the game but it pales against the men and will leave all but the most die hard footy tragic nonplussed
If it's not for you, fine. No-one is forcing you to watch it. Or to comment on it in this thread.
I agree with your comment about North Sydney oval - perfect for AFLW. If they AFL need to build or remodel some grounds so be it. The smaller footy size is already a concession. Viewers of AFLW want games where 8-10 goals are roughly the norm - not 2 or 3.
The 50m arc is kind of redundant in AFLW. In AFL, its the approximate maximum distance a player can kick a goal from. In AFLW, they would be better off with a 35m ARC.
Comparing Mens AFL with Womens AFL is pointless and stupid. They are two different games with similar rules.
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